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EarthBound and the EGM Review That Made Me A Fan

Back in July 1995, gaming for me, as a 12 year old growing up in rural North Dakota, was mostly 2D platformers and arcade games were my thing and there was little deviation from that outside of games like SimCity. When I got my copy of the July issue (vol. 72) of EGM, I did like what any other 12 year old kid would do with his new issue, read every article and wish I could be playing all the great games in it. Games like Panzer Dragoon or Kirby's Dreamland 2 all looked cool as did Clockwork Knight and it previewed my also beloved Donkey Kong Country 2 but as I got got farther into the magazine one particular game really caught my eye. That was EarthBound.

At this time in my life my interest in RPGs really hadn't even begun yet. I had played very little amounts of games like Dragon Warrior and Final Fantasy. The closest I played to an RPG in any great amount was the Legend of Zelda franchise and Crystalis. But what I saw of EarthBound in that review really grabbed my attention. I'd have to say the graphics for the most part were what drew me in to the review. Despite the writer's, John Gurka, fear that the oddball graphics would throw off potential fans to the game, they did the opposite and made me really want to play it more. The unique environment the game took place in, the humor promised and the weirdness of it all really did it for me. Heck I didn't even know about the fantastic music that the game would have until I played it. This is all from a two page impression of a game I had no idea existed up until that moment I layed eyes on it. Whenever I'd reread that particular issue I'd always be eager to reread the EarthBound impressions and hope that I'd finally get my chance to play it.

Suffice to say, it took me a little longer than I'd have liked to finally own a copy of EarthBound. When I'd visit my Grandpa in Fargo, I'd rent EarthBound and boy did it meet my expectations. Since I wasn't an experienced RPG player, the simple battle system really clicked for me, the story, while simple, really drew me in, the graphics were just as good in person and the music, my god the music was great. To this day, EarthBound's soundtrack is easily one of my favorites, if not my favorite, of all time. When I finally was able to get myself a copy of the game, I was about as happy as I could be. And when I finally beat Giygas and the credits played, I knew one thing: I had to play it again. Since then, I must have beaten the game 20+ times and it never feels like a hassle to me. It is just something I love to do. And when I beat the game and the credits end, the only question to me is when I'll feel like playing it again. Most of the time it is sooner than later.

In the 18 years since, I'm 30, living in Fargo and am a decently avid RPG gamer. Not a whole lot about my tastes have changed since I was 12. I'm still drawn into games with colorful, quirky artstyles and look very fondly on the SNES and the games that made me an avid gamer in the first place. And now that Nintendo has finally decided to release EarthBound on the VC for the Wii U, hopefully other people will be able to experience what I felt back in those days. It isn't entirely likely but you never know.

The reason why I wrote this entry was not necessarily to gush over EarthBound, I do that enough elsewhere, but to talk about the EGM review. For the longest time, I've held the assertion that all reviews of EarthBound for the most part were poorly done and entirely missed the point. That would include the EGM review as well. And while the review isn't great, after reading it again after all this time and really reading it without so much bitterness towards journalists, I see that John Gurka was actually quite positive towards the game. His worry about the graphics being perceived as bad was less about the graphics and more about the overall attitudes of the time. Overall he praised the game for its unique qualities and offbeat sense of humor.

The reason why I even bothered to post this is that I had searched Gurka's name to see if I could contact him in some way and thank him for making me aware of what is my favorite RPG of all time and I could argue it is my favorite game ever. It really affected me as a young gamer and I'd like to have let him know as it might of pleased him that he had at least influenced one gamer in an important way. Sadly, John passed away 2 years ago and will never know how much his review affected me.